This chapter shall be known as the CLEARFIELD CITY GOVERNMENT RECORDS ACCESS AND MANAGEMENT ORDINANCE, and may be so cited and pleaded. The ordinance codified herein shall be referred to herein as "this chapter" and may also be referred to as title 1, chapter 10 of this code. (Ord. 2006-16, 10-24-2006)

In enacting this chapter, it is the purpose and intent of the city council to adopt an ordinance acknowledging and complying with the government records access and management act as contained in chapter 2 of title 63 of Utah Code Annotated, as amended (hereinafter referred to as the act), and specifically to conform with section 63-2-701 of the act which provides that the city may adopt an ordinance or a policy relating to information practices of the city and its agencies, including classification, designation, access, denials, segregation, appeals, management, retention and amendment of records. (Ord. 2006-16, 10-24-2006)

In enacting this chapter, the city council hereby adopts and incorporates by reference the following provisions of the act as part of this chapter as though fully set forth herein. Any inconsistency or conflict between this chapter and the following referenced state statutes shall be governed by the statute.

General Provisions:

63-2-102Legislative Intent
63-2-103Definitions
63-2-104Administrative Procedures Act Not Applicable
63-2-105Confidentiality Agreements
63-2-106Records Of Security Measures
63-2-107Disclosure Of Records Subject To Federal Law

Access To Records:

63-2-201Right To Inspect Records And Receive Copies Of Records
63-2-202Access To Private, Controlled And Protected Documents
63-2-204Requests - Time Limit For Response And Extraordinary Circumstances
63-2-205Denials
63-2-206Sharing Records
63-2-207Subpoenas - Court Ordered Disclosure For Discovery

Classification:

63-2-301Records That Must Be Disclosed
63-2-302Private Records
63-2-302.5Private Information Concerning Certain Government Employees
63-2-303Controlled Records
63-2-304Protected Records
63-2-305Procedure To Determine Classification
63-2-306Duty To Evaluate Records And Make Designations And Classifications
63-2-307Segregation Of Records
63-2-308Confidentiality Claims

Confidential Treatment Of Records:

63-2-401Appeals To Head Of Governmental Entity
63-2-402Option For Appealing A Denial
63-2-403Appeals To The Records Committee
63-2-404Judicial Review
63-2-405Confidential Treatment Of Records For Which No Exemption Applies

Accuracy Of Records:

63-2-601Rights Of Individuals On Whom Data Is Maintained - Classification Statement - Notice To Provider Of Information
63-2-602Disclosure To Subject Of Records; Context Of Use
63-2-603Requests To Amend A Record - Appeals
63-2-604Retention And Disposition Of Records

Applicability To Political Subdivisions:

63-2-701Political Subdivisions To Enact Ordinances In Compliance With Chapter

Remedies:

63-2-801Criminal Penalties
63-2-802Injunction; Attorney's Fees
63-2-803No Liability For Certain Decisions Of A Governmental Entity Or Political Subdivision
63-2-804Disciplinary Action

Archives And Records Service:

63-2-903Duties Of Governmental Entities
63-2-905Records Declared Property Of The State; Disposition
63-2-907Right To Replevin

(Ord. 2006-16, 10-24-2006)

As used in this chapter, certain words and terms are defined as follows:

ACT: The government records access and management act, chapter 2 of title 63 of Utah Code Annotated, as amended.

AGENCY: Any office, department, division, section, staff, office, board, commission, committee or other division of Clearfield City or any public or private entity which pursuant to contract with the city has agreed to produce and maintain public city records.

CITY: Clearfield City, Utah.

DATA: Individual entries (for example, birth date, address, etc.) in records.

DISPOSE: To destroy or render irretrievable or illegible, a record or the information contained in it by any physical, electronic, or other means, including unauthorized deletion or erasure of electronically recorded audio, visual, nonwritten formats, data processing or other records.

NONPUBLIC RECORDS: Those records defined as private, controlled or protected under the provisions of this chapter and the act. (Ord. 2006-16, 10-24-2006)

A. Appointed: There shall be appointed a records officer to oversee and coordinate records access, management and archives activities. The records officer shall make quarterly reports of records services activities to the city manager.

B. Designation By Each Agency Of City: A person may be designated by each agency of the city to assist with and to work under thedirection of the records officer in implementing the policies and procedures set forth in this chapter. (Ord. 2006-16, 10-24-2006)

A. Procedures Developed: Records maintenance procedures shall be developed to ensure that due care is taken to maintain and preserve appropriate city records safely and accurately over the long term. The records officer shall be responsible for monitoring the application and use of technical processes in the creation, duplication and disposal of city records. The records officer shall monitor compliance with required standards of quality, permanence and admissibility pertaining to the creation, use and maintenance of records.

B. Ownership Of Records: All city records shall remain the property of the city unless federal or state legal authority provides otherwise. Property rights to city records may not be permanently transferred from the city to any private individual or entity, including those legally disposable, obsolete city records of city archives or any agencies. This prohibition does not include the providing of copies of city records otherwise produced for release or distribution under this chapter.

C. Delivery Upon Expiration Of Term: Custodians of any city records shall, at the expiration of their terms of office, appointment or employment, deliver custody and control of all records kept or received by them to their successors, supervisors or to the records officer.

D. Agencies Of City: All records which are in the possession of any city agency shall, upon termination of activities of such agency, be transferred to any successor agency or to the city archives; provided, that such transfer is consistent with the formal provisions of such termination. (Ord. 2006-16, 10-24-2006)

There is created the city archives to be managed by the records officer. It is the responsibility of the city archives to receive, store and preserve city and agency records and other materials and to provide reasonable access thereto as may be calculated to accurately and safely maintain city records over a long term in compliance with this chapter and the act. Policies and guidelines regarding the nature of records and record series which are to be received and stored by city archives shall be developed and promulgated by the city. Unless determined and designated otherwise by the city council, the city archives shall be considered the formal, official repository of city records; the central depository for the reports, publications, productions in other media, rules, policies and regulations of the city, where not otherwise determined by law; and, where appropriate, historical artifacts. Each agency shall be responsible for assisting the city archives in the collection of such records,depository materials and artifacts through methods promulgated by the records officer. (Ord. 2006-16, 10-24-2006)

A. Authority: Members of the public shall have the right to see, review, examine and take copies, in any format maintained by the city, of all city governmental records defined as "public" under the provisions of the act, upon the payment of the lawful fee and pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, the act and policies and procedures developed hereunder.

B. No Obligation To Create Record: The city has no obligation to create a record or record series in response to a request from a member of the public, if the record requested is not otherwise regularly maintained or kept.

C. Custodial Agency: When a record is temporarily held by a custodial city agency pursuant to that custodial agency's statutory and ordinance functions, such as records storage, investigation, litigation or audit, the record shall not be considered a record of the custodial agency for the purposes of this chapter. The record shall be considered a record of the agency or agencies which usually keeps or maintains that record and any request for access to such records shall be directed to that agency or agencies, rather than the custodial agency, pursuant to procedures established by the city.

D. Formal Filing: Only when records have been formally filed for permanent archival retention shall city archives be responsible for responding to records requests. (Ord. 2006-16, 10-24-2006)

A. Public Records: Public records shall be those city records as defined in the act, section 63-2-201 and 63-2-301, Utah Code Annotated, as amended. Public records shall be made available to any person. All city records are considered public unless they are:

1. Expressly classified otherwise in accordance with policies and procedures established by this chapter;

2. Are so classified by the act; or

3. Are made nonpublic by other applicable law.

B. Private Records: Private records shall be those city records classified as "private", as defined in section 63-2-302 of the act and as classified and defined in procedures established pursuant to the act.

C. Controlled Records: Controlled records shall be those city records classified as "controlled", as defined in section63-2-303 of the act and as classified and defined in procedures established in the act.

D. Protected Records: Protected records shall be those city records classified as "protected", as defined in section 63-2-304 of the act and as classified and defined in procedures established in the act. (Ord. 2006-16, 10-24-2006)

A. Scope; Authority: The city recognizes and upholds the personal right of privacy retained by persons who may be the subject of governmental records. The city also recognizes that the act and Utah case law establish a presumption that governmental records will generally be considered open and public, with certain exceptions. In circumstances where a record's public or nonpublic status is not specifically established by the act or another statute, by this chapter or by policies established or classifications made under this chapter, the public's right to access and the record subject's right of privacy must be compared. In accordance with decisions of the Utah supreme court, city records which have not been specifically made public by the act and which render to named or readily identifiable individuals which deal with matters of a delicate nature which could endanger shame, humiliation or embarrassment in the subject of that record, in accordance with accepted standards of social propriety, shall generally not be classified as public records and release thereof may constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy, in accordance with the act. Under circumstances and procedures established by this chapter, certain items of data may be rendered nonpublic, although other items of data in the record, or the record itself, may be classified public.

B. Notification To Subject Of Record: The city may, as determined appropriate by the agency director of the agency responding to a request for records, notify the subject of the record that a request for access to the subject's records has been made.

C. Written Release: The city may require that the requester of records provide a written release, notarized within thirty (30) days before request, from the subject of the records in question before access to such records is provided. (Ord. 2006-16, 10-24-2006)

All city records and records series, of any format, shall be classified and scheduled for retention according to the provisions of the act and this chapter. Any records generated in the future shall also be so classified and scheduled for retention. Records classification and scheduling for retention shall be conducted under the supervision of the records officer who shall be assisted by a classification review committee consisting of the records officer, the city manager and theagency director of the agency in charge of the record in question. Assistance may be requested from the city attorney as needed. Classification and retention scheduling forms and guidelines shall be prepared and promulgated by the records officer. The city shall establish a retention schedule for all city records and record series. The initial retention schedule shall be as set forth in appendix A attached to the ordinance codified herein and on file in the office of the records officer. (Ord. 2006-16, 10-24-2006)

A. Written Request: Under circumstances in which the city or an agency is not able to immediately respond to a records request, the requester shall fill out and present to the city or the agency a written request on forms provided by the city. The date and time of the request shall be noted on the written request form and all time frames provided under this chapter shall commence from that time and date. Requesters of nonpublic information shall adequately identify themselves and their status prior to receiving access to nonpublic records.

B. Response: The city or the agency may respond to a request for a record by approving the request and providing the records, denying the request or such other appropriate response as may be established by policies and procedures.

C. Time Limits:

1. Specified: In most circumstances and excepting those eventualities set forth below, the city or the agency shall respond to a written request for a public record within ten (10) business days after that request.

2. Extraordinary Circumstances: Extraordinary circumstances shall justify the city's or the agency's failure to respond to a written request for a public record within ten (10) business days and shall extend the time for response thereto to that time reasonably necessary to respond to the request, as determined by the city or the agency director. Extraordinary circumstances shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

a. The agency, another agency or some other governmental entity is currently and actively using the record requested;

b. The record requested is for either a voluminous quantity of records or requires the agency to review a large number of records or perform extensive research to locate the materials requested;

c. The agency is currently processing either a large number of records requests or is subject to extraordinary seasonal workloads in the processing of other work;

d. The request involves an analysis of legal issues to determinethe proper response to the request;

e. The request involves extensive editing to separate public data in a record from that which is not public; or

f. Providing the information request requires computer programming or other manipulation.

3. Estimate Of Time For Response: When a record request cannot be responded to within ten (10) days, the city or the agency director shall give the requester an estimate of the time required to respond to the request.

D. Failure To Respond: The failure or inability of the city or an agency to respond to a request for a record within the time frames set out herein or the city's or agency's denial of such request, shall give the requester the right to appeal as provided in section 1-10-15 of this chapter.

E. Disposable Records:

1. Any city record which has been requested in accordance with this chapter and the act, that is disposable by approved retention schedule, may not be disposed of until the request is granted and fulfilled, or sixty (60) days after all appeals are completed, pursuant to section 1-10-15 of this chapter.

2. No city record, disposable by approved retention schedule, which is subject to pending litigation or audit shall be disposed of until the litigation or audit has been completed or resolved. (Ord. 2006-16, 10-24-2006)

A. Authority; Exceptions: The city may charge a reasonable fee to cover the city's costs of duplicating and compiling records requested by any person. The fees may be set and amended from time to time. The city may fulfill a record request without charge when it determines that:

1. Releasing the record primarily benefits the public rather than a person;

2. The individual requesting the record is the subject of the record; or

3. The requester's legal rights are directly implicated by the information in the record and the requester is impecunious.

B. Review Not Subject To Fee: The city may not charge a fee for reviewing a record to determine whether it is subject to disclosure or for inspecting a record. (Ord. 2006-16, 10-24-2006)

Government records held by the city may be amended or corrected as needed. An individual may contest the accuracy or completeness of any public, private or protected record concerning him or her by submitting a written request to the city to amend the record. However, this section does not affect the right of access to private or protected records. The request shall contain the requester's name, mailing address and daytime telephone number and a detailed statement explaining why the city should amend the record. The city shall issue a decision either approving or denying the request to amend no later than sixty (60) days after receipt of the request. The city shall inform the requester in writing of its decision. The requester may appeal the denial of the request to amend a record pursuant to the provisions contained in section 1-10-15 of this chapter regarding appeals. This section does not apply to records relating to title to real or personal property, medical records, judicial case files or any other records that the city determines must be maintained in their original form to protect the public interest and to preserve the integrity of the record system. (Ord. 2006-16, 10-24-2006)

A. Request; Information Required: Any person aggrieved by the city's classification of a record or by the city's or any agency's response to a record request may appeal the determination within thirty (30) days after notice of the city's action to the city manager by filing a written notice of appeal. The notice of appeal shall contain the petitioner's name, address, phone number, relief sought and shall set forth in detail a statement of the facts, reasons and legal authority relied upon in making the appeal.

B. Business Confidentiality: If the appeal involves a record that is subject to business confidentiality or affects the privacy of an individual, the city manager shall send a notice of the requester's appeal to the affected person. In the event the record involves business confidentiality the claimant shall have seven (7) business days after notice is sent by the city manager to submit further support for the claim of business confidentiality.

C. Determination By City: The city manager shall make a determination on the appeal within five (5) days after receipt of the appeal or within twelve (12) days after the governmental entity sends the requester's notice of appeal to a person who submitted a claim of business confidentiality. The city manager shall send written notice to all participants providing the city manager's determination on the appeal and the reasons therefor and shall include a statement that the requester has the right to appeal the denial to either the state records committee or district court.

D. State Records Committee Or District Court Review: If the city manager affirms the denial, in whole or in part, the person maypetition the state records committee as provided in section 63-2-403 of the act or petition for judicial review in district court as provided in section 63-2-404 of the act. (Ord. 2006-16, 10-24-2006)

A. Criminal Prosecution: Any city employee who knowingly refuses to permit access to records in accordance with the act and this chapter, who knowingly permits access to nonpublic records, or who knowingly, without authorization or legal authority, disposes of, alters or removes records or allows other persons to do so in violation of the provisions of the act, this chapter or other law or regulation may be subject to criminal prosecution and disciplinary action, including termination.

B. Nonliability For Damages: In accordance with the act, neither the city nor any of its agencies or employees shall be liable for damages resulting from the release of a record where the requester presented evidence of authority to obtain the record, even if it may be subsequently determined that the requester had no such authority. (Ord. 2006-16, 10-24-2006)